Birth of the Griffin
by Txlonestar
Summary: This is my first full story. Some of it takes place in Zoids NCO: The Blackhole Rising. Enjoy


Disclaimer: All characters used herein that are not mine are the sole property of those they are licensed to. This story is done for nonprofit and enjoyment only. Zoids is not mine. If anyone wishes there character removed I shall do so promptly.

"Spoken words" 'thoughts' or 'sounds'

Birth of the Griffin

Author: Txlonestar

Noisy, that's how it usually is though in a maintenance hanger this large. After disembarking from our transports in this rural Guylos Region, we were given some time to prepare ourselves and our zoids at a ZBC maintenance facility. This is where I find myself currently in my well used and oil stained blue work coveralls working on my zoid. I'm not the only one here though, most of the special armor divisions have stopped in to get there zoids and equipment checked out.

This would explain all the noise that is reaching me, even with my upper torso buried up to my waist in an access panel. And for some reason it seems calming to me, I can identify all the noises in a hanger just by there sound. Having been raised from infancy in such an environment seems to give me this sixth sense as it were. An air impact tightening bolts on an armor plate, a diagnostic computers cooling fans hum and beeping as it runs its checkout programs.

The thumps of boots on ... 'CLICK -Clack CLICK-Clack' …… "Wait a minute, that's not a standard issue boot" I mumble knowing of only one type of shoe wear that makes THAT particular sound and the one person who where's shoes like that regularly. As the sound of shoes on the metal scaffolding got louder I realized they were heading straight for me, and I let out a small sigh mentally preparing myself. Sure enough they stopped right beside me and a rather soft and enticing voice called gently over my shoulder.

" Oh Mr. President, could I have a minute of your time please?" Melissa Lovecraft called. Remembering all the things my mother taught me on how to be a gentleman I looked over my shoulder behind me and crawled out of the access panel. I reached over and cleaned my rather grimy hands on a towel before looking up at my visitor. Ms. Lovecraft was best described as …. Well 'strongly independent', though some of the other female's here would use less appropriate terms. Her uniform was definitely not standard as she had modified it as soon as it had been issued. Her gloss black leather riding boots were the first giveaway with their raised and slender heel bringing her almost to eye level with me. She wore these over skin tight black breeches with the top of the boots stopping just past mid calf. A look that was equestrian in appearance more than zoid pilot. Her fatigue shirt though was mostly unmodified. If you ignored the fact it was maybe a size small and almost never fully buttoned or tucked in. This gave anyone she deemed worthy of speaking to a rather nice view, despite the grey sports type bra she was wearing. All this coupled with full lips, long blond hair, blue eyes and the knowledge how to use it all left many a man without coherent thought in her presence. ' Which is why I'm sure she can get away with wearing it like that', I thought before giving myself a mental shake and putting on a friendly smile.

"Bryce is fine Ms. Lovecraft, Ill only carry that title after the war. Now what can I do for you?" She let out what I'm sure was intended as a flirty giggle and crossed her arms under her ample chest causing it to rise just a bit , along with my temperature. " Melissa is fine, and I was wondering if you could do me a little favor?" she said with a slight pout to her lips and voice. "If time allows then I would be happy to help", I replied remembering a saying my grandfather told me.

"First rule of bartering, never give a promise you can't keep. Always leave an out incase things goes south." Melissa seemed however to accept my answer showing a smile "Great, these grease monkeys here don't know a thing about custom zoids" she sniffed disdainfully. Knowing well how quick her temper could erupt I chose to keep a closed mouth even though I wasn't far from the same as them at the moment. Hoping to keep the conversation short I got right down to the heart of the matter,

"Is there a particular problem there having trouble with?" "Oh they can't get the blades on my Spinosnapper to harmonize just right and I can tell every time I power them up" she threw a contemptuous glance back across her left shoulder. " Morons.. Just because there is an extra blade in the tail they say it's almost impossible". "I can see where that would be tricky", I said glancing back at the zoid in question just down the line from my own.

"If all three aren't tuned with there individual drive components and yet kept from tuning to the other two blades it could seriously damage them, not to mention reducing their cutting efficiency". Her face split into a wonderful smile and she clasped her hands just in front of her chin, "I knew you would understand!" she exclaimed adding a little hop in as an after thought it seemed. "Now I know why your company got those contracts" I could swear she was grinning like a cat that got the cream at that statement. "So think you can help me?" she asked, again with a bit of a pout and dropping her arms down while keeping her hands together and cocking her hips just a bit forward giving her an 'innocent' look. "As soon as I finish up here Ill go over and double check there work."

"Great I'll check up on you later then" she said adding a wink of her long lashes and a flip of hair as she practically strutted past me. Despite myself my eyes followed her for a few seconds enjoying the display. After a few seconds though I physically shook myself and turned back to the work at hand. My mind however mulled over the previous few minutes and the fact that I was now at least in name the CEO/President of the new Dracker Designs Co. My grandfather's resurrection of the company with the financial backing of Dr.Toros was fairly common knowledge these days. It was also a well known fact that the ZBC had awarded a rather large contract to the company for updating and refurbishing mothballed zoids the ZBC had. 'Which would probably explain the added interest most of the women have been giving me here of late' I added silently. 'Gold-digger', that was what my grandmother would probably call Melissa and those like her. While I felt like such was possibly the case, it still didn't mean I wouldn't help if it meant she and others would have a better chance of returning home.

'Home'…. I stopped what I was doing for a moment as I thought of everything that had led me to this point in time. Shaking the thoughts out of my head and getting back on track I finally closed the hatch satisfied that the work was done I stepped back looking over my zoid. The Griffin was a one of a kind masterpiece of technology like nothing before it. A work of my late father, grandfather, and Dr. Toros it had served me well in the past and yet in all this time I still haven't figured out all of its secrets.

Though its looks on the ground gave it the appearance of a streamlined shield liger, anyone who got a closer look realized that was wear the similarity ended. The first thing that caught most people's eyes was the armor that covers almost every part possible. Unlike most armor which was blocky and straight, this armor was smooth and contoured almost as if it had been poured on the Griffins frame. In fact they wouldn't be far off, the armor was actually developed before the Griffin and then custom fitted to the zoid as its first true test bed. The armor had been secretly commissioned by the ZBC after the Royal Cup incident almost three years ago, when the Backdraft had actually used Geno saurers and other CPG equipped zoids in there failed coup attempt. Working on the same principle as stealth armor, it effectively distributes and redirects the concentrated light from energy based weapons beams, thus making them far less damaging. Still some damage is done as nothing is truly strong enough to withstand several hits from a CPG or like weapon. However unlike shields the armor won't drain the zoids energy nor run the risk of freezing the zoids systems in combat.

Next would be the large turbo jet engines mounted on the zoids back just above each shoulder and running along its back to exhaust just past the rear of the zoids legs. This particular feature always gets me a few strange looks. Then I have some fun with them when they ask the inevitable question. "Why did you do that?" to which I reply "To help it fly better" usually at this point they are rolling on the ground laughing and trying not to mess there pants. That is until I hit a switch and the folding gravity wings open up from there covered compartments beside the engines and spread out to there full length. It's about that point that the person comes to grips with the fact that, yes it does fly and quite well I might add. Still a zoid wouldn't be complete with out some kind of weapons and the Griffin is no exception. Besides the basic razor sharp claws and teeth it has a particle cutting blade imbedded in the front of each wing almost identical to a blade ligers.

Also there are hard points under the wings themselves for jettison able munitions along with two more hard points on the back just inboard of the engines. These final two points are usually occupied by my standard armament of one gun/missile pod each. A smaller and more compact design of the Assault Gattling unit used on the Elephander, they hold a chopped down laser Vulcan and five missiles each. These pods are capable of traversing 360 degrees horizontal and 80 degrees vertical deflection from zero. To handle all this firepower was the best computer and targeting system available, allowing it to track multiple targets and threats at any one time. I still remember the awe I felt the first time I looked up at him deep in the belly hanger of a ZBC Battlesaurus.

Hearing a low growl I turned towards the head of my fighting companion with a bit of a rueful smile, "I'm ok buddy just getting lost in the past a bit" I said patting his side gently. I had seen Bit do this same thing with Liger Zero many times and over time had learned some of what Griffin said or at least the meaning. At first I was surprised at how independent Griffin was, but after seeing how Bit Cloud, and Leon Toros interacted with there own Ligers I truly began to understand. Zoids were truly their own beings and to think less of them was not only wrong, but immoral. Still there were those who would think me crazy for such a thought, however I had seen to much already that told me otherwise. "Come on partner open up; we can't finish up here till we run a diagnostic on that new servo actuator", adding a gentle pat to his side to emphasize my words. Almost immediately the cover over the cockpit split in half allowing the two parts to slide forward and rearward respectively.

Hopping into the seat was always easy and I got comfortable quickly as the hatch closed back up shutting out the noise from the hanger bay. Reaching into my coveralls pocket I pulled out the one thing no zoid warrior was without, my Zoid Gear. Each warrior had his own personal zoid gear and on it was stored all the information about himself and his record on the battlefield. Turning the small blue box in over in my hands I marveled at it for a few moments again lost in memories both old and recent. With a bit more care than was normal for me I put the gear in the receptacle in front of me and watched it slide in to the console to be connected to Griffin's systems. The one thing on the Griffin that was not almost brand new was the core and memory. For under all that modern armor and weapons systems, was the zoid core and memory unit of a century old shield liger my grandfather piloted in the Guardian Force of legend. 'And then my father after that and now me', I thought to myself as I ran my hand across the panel gently. The Zoid Core was the 'soul' if you will of a zoid and its memory the brain, it's what makes a zoid practically alive and gives them the ability to actually learn and better themselves.

Even with the age of the core and memory almost immediately the screens and instruments came alive with light and sound after the gear was fully retracted, showing system readiness and running preprogrammed startup sequences. After all the systems booted up and the view screens came on to show the world around me I got to work. "Ok lets see… diagnostic programs… hardware systems check … fiber optic link system check and lets run an overall systems check just to be on the safe side eh? ", I threw out to my partner receiving a growl to my inquiry. "Ok then … here we go", with the final command entered the screens displayed the current action being taken and the next action in the list to be executed along with total time for test finish. "20 minutes", I mumbled to myself as I leaned back in the cockpits seat and stared at my own reflection in a screen that was dark for the time being. ' You look just like your father did the day I met him', I remember my mother telling me that on the day we shipped out. I sat up and pulled a photo she had sent me not long after, I had it incased in a special plastic to protect it and kept it in my left breast pocket all the time now. It was one of the few remaining family photographs left after our home in the New Helic region was destroyed, that was were it all started ………….three days before my eighteenth birthday……

YES! And there is the first installment of my new story! This is mainly an epilogue to get the ball rolling. Again I hope this goes over well and as always constructive criticism is always appreciated! So read and review please

To help better understand this story please read :

Zoids NCO : The BlackHole Rising by: BlackHole CO


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